Method for diagnosing malfunction of apparatus delivering goods and services against payment

ABSTRACT

A method for diagnosing malfunctions of apparatus delivering goods or services against payment of an automatic terminal type, is provided. The method includes calculating the value of at least one data item representative of the operation of the apparatus, comparing the calculated value to a predetermined reference value and deducing the occurrence of a malfunction in the event of a predetermined difference between the values.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a National Stage Application of PCT PatentApplication No. PCT/FR2003/001951, which in turn claims the benefit ofpriority from French Patent Application No. 02/08044, filed on Jun. 27,2002, the entirety of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method for diagnosing malfunction ofapparatus delivering goods and services against payment. The presentinvention also relates to apparatus adapted to implement this method andwhere applicable a remote management server adapted accordingly.

The present invention relates in particular to payment terminals used topay charges for parking motor vehicles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For many years a charge has had to be paid to park in towns. To be ableto leave his car in a parking space, a motorist must prepay an amountcorresponding to the selected parking time. In the absence of suchpayment, the vehicle is illegally parked and the driver is liable to beissued a voucher or a fine by surveillance operatives.

To occupy a parking space that has to be paid for, the user musttherefore pay for the right to park at an appropriate payment terminal.Such terminals are more widely known as parking meters or parkingvoucher dispensers.

The parking meter system consists in a terminal at which a motoristwishing to park must pay an amount corresponding to the required parkingtime by means of coins, a card, etc. An indicator showing the parkingtime paid for is then displayed on the terminal. This indicator isprogressively repositioned as time passes. This kind of system is simpleto monitor because surveillance operatives have only to look at theposition of the indicator to determine whether the vehicle occupying thespace controlled by the terminal in question is legally parked.

In the case of parking voucher dispensers, the user receives a vouchercarrying printed information, and in particular the authorized parkingtime limit, in exchange for payment for the required parking time, bymeans of coins, an appropriate payment card, etc. The user must placethis voucher so that it is clearly visible through the windshield of hisvehicle. The surveillance operatives then check that a voucher ispresent in a parked car and check the indicated parking time limit.

Whatever type of payment terminal is used (parking meter or parkingvoucher dispenser), it is important to be able to identify as soon aspossible any malfunction of a terminal that may disrupt payment bymotorists. A prompt diagnosis means that a maintenance operative may besent out quickly and limits loss of revenue.

The manufacturers of such terminals have therefore developed many toolsfor diagnosing the operation of terminals and systems for sending anynecessary alarms to a remote management center and/or alertingmaintenance operatives directly. Checks carried out include checks onthe remaining stock of vouchers, filling of the cash box, jamming ofcoins in the coin sorter, etc.

However, this approach tends to increase the cost of the terminals byincreasing the number of sensors and associated electronic circuits andis still incapable of diagnosing certain malfunctions that areundetectable, such as fraud and vandals blocking the payment orifices,and thereby rendering the apparatus inoperative.

It is difficult to place sensors in all the sensitive areas of anapparatus to detect metallic and non-metallic foreign bodies, solids,liquids, etc.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention therefore proposes to remedy these drawbacks byproposing a simple method that does not necessitate any additionalequipment and is able to diagnose malfunction of a payment terminal.

The method according to the invention for diagnosing malfunctions ofapparatus delivering goods or services against payment, of the automaticterminal type, is characterized in that it consists in calculating thevalue of at least one data item representative of the operation of saidapparatus, comparing said calculated value to a predetermined referencevalue, and deducing the occurrence of a malfunction in the event of apredetermined difference between said values.

According to another feature of the method of the invention said dataitem representative of the operation of said apparatus is representativeof the frequency of payments made at said apparatus.

According to another feature of the method of the invention said dataitem representative of the operation of said apparatus is the time thathas elapsed since the last payment made to said apparatus.

According to another feature of the method of the invention said dataitem representative of the operation of said apparatus is the time thathas elapsed since the last payment made via said apparatus for each ofthe payment means accepted by said apparatus.

According to another feature of the method of the invention saidreference value is representative of the average of values taken by saiddata item representative of the operation of the apparatus.

According to another feature of the method of the invention saidreference value depends at least on a parameter such as the time of dayor the apparatus concerned.

According to another feature of the method of the invention saidpredetermined difference depends at least on a parameter such as thetime of day or the apparatus concerned.

According to another feature of the method of the invention theoperations of calculating a data item representative of the operation ofsaid apparatus and comparing the calculated value and a predeterminedreference value are effected directly by said apparatus.

According to another feature of the method of the invention theoperations of calculating a data item representative of the operation ofsaid apparatus and comparing the calculated value and a predeterminedreference value are partly or completely effected by a server adapted tocommunicate with said apparatus.

According to another feature of the method of the invention saidapparatus is a terminal for paying for parking spaces, such as a parkingvoucher dispenser or a parking meter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will bebetter understood from the following description of one embodiment ofthe invention, which is given by way of nonlimiting example and refersto the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an installed base of parking voucherdispensers and a management server implementing the method of theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows the main steps of the method of the invention; and

FIG. 3 shows the evolution during the course of the day of the averagetime delay between the issuing of two consecutive parking vouchers by agiven parking voucher dispenser.

FIG. 1 shows an automatic terminal for paying for goods or services, butrepresents only the components necessary to understanding the invention.In this instance the terminal is a parking voucher dispenser 1 that ispart of an installed base 10 of parking voucher dispensers that ismanaged by an operator such as a private company or a local authority.The installed base of parking voucher dispensers may comprise fromseveral dozen to several thousand dispensers, depending on the size ofthe town or urban area concerned.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Of course, the use of parking voucher dispenser type payment terminalsis in no way limiting on the present invention. The invention alsoapplies to parking meters and more generally to any automatic terminalfor paying for goods or services, such as a public telephone or a drinksdispenser.

The parking voucher dispensers are regularly distributed along thepavements of streets in which parking is controlled and has to be paidfor, for example every 50 meters.

Like the other parking voucher dispensers of the installed base 10, theparking voucher dispenser 1 conventionally comprises a certain number ofparticular components that are inherent to a parking voucher dispenser.These include data display and input means, such as a screen and akeypad, and payment means comprising a card reader and/or a coin sorter,etc. Note that the parking voucher dispenser may also be equipped withmeans enabling payment for the right to park by means of a mobiletelephone. All of these hardware components are controlled by amicroprocessor with appropriate software for supervising the operationof each component.

The equipment of the parking voucher dispenser 1 further includescommunication means providing access to a remote server 5. To facilitatemanagement and maintenance of the payment terminals by the operator(local authority, etc.), the terminals are provided with communicationmeans adapted to communicate with a remote central computer 5 and totransfer data to it.

This central computer 5 for supervising the operation of the installedbase of parking terminals, also known as a parking management system(PMS), receives periodically from each of the terminals activity reportscontaining data descriptive of the operation of the apparatus or alarmsif events necessitating the intervention of a maintenance operativeoccur (cashbox full of coins, no paper for printing vouchers,malfunction or vandalism).

Moreover, the PMS server 5 may download into the terminals files ofparameters, tables of charges or updates to the programs executed by themicroprocessors of the payment terminals, such updates improving theprograms already installed or introducing new user services.

The telephone network 2 used by the parking voucher dispenser 1 toaccess the management server 5 is an analog public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) or an integrated services digital network (ISDN). Thenetwork 2 may equally consist of a mobile telephone network of any kind(GSM, CDMA, TDMA, AMPS, D-AMPS), or the Internet, or more generally anycommunication network adapted to transmit data (X.25, Ethernet, etc.),and any combination of such networks.

The PMS 5 supervises the installed base 10 of parking voucherdispensers. Its function is to exchange with these parking voucherdispensers information concerning their operation and in particulartransactions effected by users (as described in more detail below).

The parking voucher dispensers and the PMS 5 are therefore provided withappropriate supervision and information send/receive means, which areknown in the art and are not described in more detail here.

Among its other functions, the PMS 5 transfers to the parking voucherdispensers files necessary for them to operate, such as tables ofcharges, configuration parameters, lists for surveillance of the meansof payment used (white, black or grey lists), or programs controllingthe operation of the microprocessors of the parking voucher dispensers.

For their part, the parking voucher dispensers transmit informationrelating to their use, namely a daily log containing data relating totransactions effected and to traffic, an alarm log that is used toreport to the PMS 5, to enable the intervention of a surveillanceoperative, the occurrence of incidents or attacks on their integrity,such as a malfunction of the card reader, etc.

In one particular embodiment of the invention, the parking voucherdispenser 1 cooperates with software implemented entirely in themicroprocessor of the parking voucher dispenser 1 and adapted to detectthe occurrence of malfunctions and thus able to arrive at anautodiagnosis.

This embodiment is not limiting on the invention. Thus, in a differentembodiment, the software is divided between the microprocessor of theparking voucher dispenser and the remote server 5. In a furtherembodiment, the software is executed entirely in the remote server,which in particular enables account to be taken of information fromother parking voucher dispensers.

The method on which the invention is based relies on the statisticalanalysis of at least one item of data characteristic of the operation ofthe apparatus, and in particular the frequency of payments.

To be more precise, the object of the present invention is to detectabnormal operation by comparing the real behavior of the parking voucherdispenser 1 with a predetermined nominal behavior.

The processing of certain information linked to payment, such as thetime that has elapsed since the previous payment (but equally the numberof valid vouchers, the rate of occupancy, etc.), enables malfunctions tobe diagnosed.

Assume that the payment terminal 1 is out of service, for examplebecause its screen has been sprayed with paint, because the paymentslots for inserting coins or cards have been blocked up, or because theterminal has been uprooted. At present such malfunctions are difficultfor dedicated monitoring means to diagnose unless costly dedicatedsensors are used.

Because the parking voucher dispenser is out of service, users turn awayfrom the terminal and payments therefore cease. The number of validvouchers (or the rate of occupation) therefore falls off (if themalfunction occurs during the daytime) or does not resume (if themalfunction occurs before the beginning of the period in which parkinghas to be paid for). Observing the (non)payments enables a problem to beidentified and one or more alarms to be generated. The operator of thecar park can then dispatch a maintenance operative to identify andcorrect the problem.

Note that consolidating the payments (number of valid vouchers or rateof occupation) made at all the payment terminals in the same street orthe same sector may further refine the diagnosis, as the unavailabilityof a terminal logically leads to a transfer of at least some activity toother terminals nearby, if there are any. The adjoining terminals willtherefore have a rate of occupation that rises above the norm. Thus theconcomitant occurrence of a fall off in the payments at a given terminaland a rise in the payments at a nearby terminal or nearby terminalsindicates a malfunction of the terminal concerned. On the other hand, ifthe fall off in the rate of occupation affects not one terminal but allthe terminals in the same street, it is possible to envisage hypothesesother than a malfunction of the terminals, and in particular the closingof the street to traffic because of roadworks, etc. It is then feasibleto check with the highways department, for example, before dispatching amaintenance operative.

According to the invention, the microprocessor of the parking voucherdispenser 1 is therefore provided with a program for monitoringtransactions performed by users during the daytime.

This transaction monitoring program is more particularly for calculatingat least one parameter significant of the execution of transactions.This parameter is the time T that has elapsed since issuing the lastvoucher, for example. In one embodiment of the invention, this parameteris calculated for each payment means, because one may have beenvandalized but not another.

If the parking voucher dispensers incorporate a card reader and a coinsorter, two parameters are calculated, namely a time Tm for coinpayments and a time Tc for card payments. A distinction may also be madebetween magnetic card payments and smart card payments or betweenpayments by Visa/Masterard type credit cards and Moneo type electronicwallets, in that each type of payment utilizes specific means that couldmalfunction.

For simplicity, the remainder of the description refers only to a time Tcorresponding to a given payment means.

The microprocessor calculates the time T periodically as the differencebetween the present time and the time of the most recent transaction forthe payment means concerned.

The time T is then compared to a stored threshold value Tmax, and if thelatter is exceeded an alarm is tripped.

Referring to FIG. 2, the program executed by the microcontroller of theterminal 1 therefore calculates the number Treal_(i) of vouchers thatare valid at a given time t-i regularly throughout the period in whichparking has to be paid for, for example from 9h to 19h.

The number Treal_(i) is calculated from stored information relating toeach of the individual transactions effected by the terminal 1 for thepayment means concerned. The time Tp-n at which each payment n occurs isstored in an appropriate memory area (not shown).

The number Treal_(i) is then calculated as the difference between thevalue of the present time t-i supplied by the internal clock of themicroprocessor on the iteration i and the time Tp-n, where n denotes thelatest payment. The number Treal_(i) is therefore a measure of the timethat has elapsed between the latest payment for the payment meansconcerned and the present time. How frequently Treal_(i) is calculateddepends on the capabilities of the microprocessor. The calculation ofTreal_(i) might therefore be triggered every minute, for example. Thevalue of Tp-n is updated on each payment.

The program then compares the number Treal_(i) to a predeterminedthreshold value Tmax_(i).

If Treal_(i) is less than Tmax_(i), then no malfunction is diagnosed,but if Treal_(i) is greater than Tmax_(i), then a malfunction isconsidered to have occurred and an alarm is tripped in the form of anappropriate signal sent to the server 5, which then dispatches amaintenance operative to the terminal 1.

In a different embodiment, the terminal 1 could send an alarm messagedirectly to a maintenance operative equipped with appropriatecommunication means and able to reach the site quickly.

With regard to the initial time, i=0, tp−0 may be defined as having thevalue 9h00 if 9h00 is the start time D0 of the period in which parkinghas to be paid for.

In one particular embodiment of the invention, Tmax_(i) is obtained bytrial and error and mapped in a memory of the microprocessor of theterminal 1. The data is stored after downloading it from the server 5 orduring on-site maintenance.

In another particular embodiment of the invention, the value Tmax_(i) isdeducted from the value Tnom_(i) that is the average value observed atthe time t-i between two consecutive payments for the payment meansconcerned and for the parking voucher dispenser concerned. Tmax_(i) isequal to Tnom_(i) multiplied by an appropriate coefficient Coeff_(i)that may depend on the type of distribution (Poisson's law, normaldistribution) observed when measuring the values Tnom_(i) (X² test), forexample. Thus a constant coefficient Coeff_(i) might be used andadjusted to take account of 95% of observed values and prevent themultiplication of false alarms compared to a threshold that is set toolow. The coefficient Coeff_(i) may also evolve during the daytime on thebasis of trial and error analyses. FIG. 3 shows curves of the evolutionof Tnom and Tmax in the daytime by way of nonlimiting example.

The Tnom and Tmax curves may be determined with greater or lesseraccuracy by considering a greater or lesser number of factors. Thus thecurves may be identical for all parking voucher dispensers or specificto and adapted to each parking voucher dispenser. There may bedifferences in the patterns of use of the parking voucher dispensersbecause of their location, parking patterns being different inresidential and business areas or commercial areas.

Similarly, the curves may be considered as constant regardless of theday of the week or adapted to each day of the week or each day of theyear, to take account of seasonal variations and in particular holidayperiods.

Similarly, Tnom could be taken as constant regardless of the time of dayor depend on the time of day in the manner shown in FIG. 3. The Tnomcurve shown in FIG. 3 is a curve with two peaks; the time elapsedbetween two successive voucher sales for a given payment means increasesduring the morning to a maximum value and then falls off in the earlyafternoon, then increases during the afternoon and falls off againtoward the end of the period during which parking must be paid for. Thiscurve emphasizes rush hours occurring at the beginning of the day, inthe middle of the day, and at the end of the day (vouchers dispensed atthe end of the day are valid after 9h the next day for the remainingamount of the sum paid the day before).

The Tnom, Tmax curves are obtained by direct statistical analysis ofobserved raw data in the voucher dispenser 1 or the whole or a portionof the installed base of parking voucher dispensers. The curves may begenerated by the parking voucher dispenser directly or by the PMS server5.

In one particular embodiment of the invention, the method is notimplemented by the parking voucher dispenser 1 alone but by the server5, using appropriate information supplied by the parking voucherdispenser 1.

The electronic circuit of the parking terminal, in this instance theparking voucher dispenser 1, therefore cooperates with softwarededicated to remote collection of information for use by the PMSmanagement server 5.

The program executed by the microcontroller sends the server 5periodically the total for payments effected via each of the paymentmeans of the terminal, for example. The server 5 then deduces from thisinformation the time that has elapsed since the last payment via each ofthe payment means; if that time becomes abnormal it trips an alarm toschedule a maintenance operation, where applicable after examining thebehavior of adjoining parking voucher dispensers.

The manager's decision whether to attend to the terminal that sent thesurveillance alarm or not may also depend on consolidation of datasupplied by other parking voucher dispensers in the same area.

Of course, the embodiments shown are not limiting on the presentinvention.

Thus the invention is not limited to terminals connected to a remotemanagement server, but relates equally to terminals merely adapted tosend an alarm signal to a maintenance center.

Obviously, the present invention is not limited to detecting abnormaloperation of a payment terminal simply by analyzing the time T that haselapsed since issuing the last voucher. The present inventionencompasses the detection of abnormal operation by analyzing one or moreitems of data characteristic of the operation of the payment terminal.

1. A method for diagnosing malfunctions occurring on an automatic terminal apparatus for delivering goods or services against payment, received at one of at least two different means for payment, said method for diagnosing malfunctions comprising the steps of: for each means for payment, calculating a value of at least one respective data item representative of an operation of said apparatus, wherein said at least one respective data item representative of the operation of said apparatus is an amount of time that has elapsed since a latest payment made with the means for payment and a time that is intended to elapse as long as no other payment is made with the means for payment; comparing each calculated value to a respective predetermined reference value; and deducing an occurrence of a malfunction in an event that one of the calculated values is superior to its predetermined reference value.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said data item representative of the operation of said apparatus is representative of a frequency of payments made at said apparatus.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said reference value is representative of an average of values taken by said data item representative of the operation of the apparatus.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said reference value depends at least on a parameter such as a time of day or the apparatus concerned.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined difference depends at least on a parameter such as a time of day or the apparatus concerned.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operations of calculating the data item representative of the operation of said apparatus and comparing the calculated value and the predetermined reference value are affected directly by said apparatus.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operations of calculating the data item representative of the operation of said apparatus and comparing the calculated value and the predetermined reference value are partly or completely effected by a server adapted to communicate with said apparatus.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus is a terminal for paying for parking spaces, a parking voucher dispenser or a parking meter.
 9. An automatic apparatus for delivering goods or services against payment, said apparatus comprising: one of at least two means for payment; a means for calculating a value of at least one data item representative of an operation of said apparatus for each means for payment, where said at least one respective data item representative of the operation of said apparatus is an amount of time that has elapsed since a latest payment made with the means for payment, and will elapse as long as no other payment is made with the means for payment; means for comparing each calculated value to a respective reference value; and means for detecting an occurrence of a malfunction in an event that one of the calculated values is superior to its reference value.
 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said apparatus is a terminal for paying for parking spaces.
 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said apparatus is either one of a parking voucher dispenser or a parking meter.
 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein each reference value is obtained by direct statistical analysis of observed raw data of several automatic terminal type apparatuses including said terminal type apparatus. 